Carbon12 wrote:How much coal do you think was wasted so far this season?

Seeing as that 3,776 HDD's had gone by at a consumption rate of ~1.5 lbs per HDD (pre the channel cleaning) instead of at 1.3 lbs. per HDD (as for post the channel cleaning), it looks like I potentially wasted 755 lbs. of coal.

Hi guys... New to forum.. not to the HVAC world. I am very curious about the Alt Htg S series boilers. 81.5% is pretty good... does everyone with these get that kind of efficiencies? Any other little tid bits of info on them would be appreciated. Looking into a purchase of one... most likely this summer.

Is it really fair to compare the Old harmony Coal to the Blaschak Coal...the boiler was not cleaned in same manner last season as it was this season, correct?Since that coal from Harmony is unavailable anymore...guess we will never know the true efficiency of it.

I check that "channel" every year when I check the cyclonic fly ash separator. Neither one ever has any fly ash or dust in it. BTW-What it is called is simply a "fire tube". That particular part is the second pass. Fire tubes should be cleaned out regularly in any kind of boiler according to the boiler men I know but I haven't cleaned mine ever--seven seasons. I haven't noticed any higher usage of coal due to that-- at least not yet. I guess I have just been lucky. I had better check the Axeman maintenance manual! I am using more coal this year but, damn, it's been a whole lot colder than last year. The sight door is closing quite nicely.

What I noticed in the picture posted is that the hole cut in the vertical tube that accepts the fire tube and houses the cyclone, was jagged and not large enough for the fire tube. On my unit it is nicely sized, and filed smooth. Perhaps that makes a difference in fly ash collection and it eventually reaches a clogging point. Mine doesn't even collect as much fly ash as was shown in the photo.

My concern is surface rust from no summer usage.

There is an attachment for shop vac style utility vacuums for cleaning out pellet stoves. It consists of a flexible tube about 1/2 to 3/4" in diam and an adapter to a shop vac sized hose (1-1/4 or 1-1/2?). They are overpriced but easier than making your own. It's a couple feet long and probably sufficient to clean out the fire tube. A flexible shaft, soft bristle 3" pellet stove brush might be the ticket also. Not sure if it will make the bend or not.

I have to thank you for bringing this up (cleaning the port from the swirl chamber). About 2 weeks ago when it was really cold (near/below zero) my S130, for really the first time, couldn't keep up. It seemed to happen quickly. I shut the unit down for a few hours on a Sunday, used a small parts grabber as a snake and "reamed out" the passage from the swirl chamber to the cyclone separator. Since then, my boiler has been back to normal performance.

I have used my boiler for seven seasons. Although I clean the thing pretty thoroughly, that passage was hard to get to and I never "snaked it out". Now I know better. I think that a note should be added to the manual regarding this if there isn't one already.

Thanks again. Because of your post, I was able to go right to the problem and fix it quickly.